Serpapi Common Errors

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Return unexpected shapes
• With diagnose a SerpAPI error

Example prompts

• “diagnose a SerpAPI error”
• “/serpapi-common-errors”

Requirements

• Python 3
• A credential in SERPAPI_KEY
• Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Designed for Claude Code; live reproduction and archive access require an authorized key and may affect allowance
• Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Read, Glob, Grep, WebFetch, Write, Edit, Bash(python3:*)

Workflow steps

7 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1Capture the HTTP status, response error, search status, search ID, engine, safe parameter names, and client timeout.
2. 2Determine whether failure occurred before search creation, during queued/processing work, after a terminal error, or in local parsing.
3. 3For 400, compare parameters with the selected engine documentation and fix locally without retrying unchanged.
4. 4For 401/403, stop and repair account access; for 429, query Account API to separate throughput from allowance.
5. 5Retry timeouts and 500/503 only with a small attempt budget, exponential backoff, jitter, and idempotent processing.
6. 6Treat terminal Success with empty sections as data, then inspect documented engine-specific _state fields.
7. 7Add a sanitized regression fixture and record the classification, fix, retry count, and final state.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 23ea8d4. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves these tools, so the agent can use them without asking each time:

  • Read
  • Glob
  • Grep
  • WebFetch
  • Write
  • Edit
  • Bash(python3:*)

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are python).

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  Links to these hosts (documentation or services it may open):

  • serpapi.com
  • status.serpapi.com

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names these keys or tokens, usually read from environment variables:

  • SERPAPI_KEY

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

• Compatibility

  Designed for Claude Code; live reproduction and archive access require an authorized key and may affect allowance

  From compatibility in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

Context cost

Serpapi Common Errors loads about 1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 59 tokens; SKILL.md has 397 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~59

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~1k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace at commit 23ea8d4, republished under its MIT licence (© jeremylongshore). 397 words, ~1,017 tokens.

name

serpapi-common-errors

description

Classify SerpAPI HTTP failures, search-status failures, and valid empty results before choosing a retry or repair. Use when searches fail, stall, or return unexpected shapes. Trigger with "diagnose a SerpAPI error".

allowed-tools

Read, Glob, Grep, WebFetch, Write, Edit, Bash(python3:*)

compatibility

Designed for Claude Code; live reproduction and archive access require an authorized key and may affect allowance

argument-hint

[status-code|search-id] [engine]

version

1.6.0

author

Jeremy Longshore <jeremy@intentsolutions.io>

license

MIT

tags

saas, serpapi, troubleshooting, errors, reliability

model

inherit

effort

high

try:
    result = client.search(params)
except serpapi.HTTPError as exc:
    if exc.status_code in {400, 401, 403}:
        raise PermanentSearchError(exc.status_code) from exc
    if exc.status_code == 429:
        raise CapacityDecisionRequired() from exc
    raise TransientSearchError(exc.status_code) from exc

© jeremylongshore, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/.curated/serpapi-common-errors of jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 23ea8d4